Component order rule 4 – spear enclosures
Spear enclosures tend to be more complex. Not only they come in several variations but each enclosure, despite being a clearly defined kanji component, is often split into group of strokes that are not written as a single component.
The reason I call them “spear enclosures” is that they generally originate from pictograms of spears (or other weapons).
In the diagram below I present the six main spear enclosures that you will encounter as you study the 2136 常用漢字 jōyō kanji. They are 弋 shikigamae, 戈 hokogamae, and some of their variants.
When spear enclosure shapes are present within a kanji, the stroke sequence that you see above is interrupted and other elements are written in between. Study the following diagram carefully.
The component order is as follows:
- the part of the spear formed by the long horizontal stroke and related strokes is written first (red);
- the enclosed part is written second;
- the slanted part of the spear and related strokes is written last (green).
Sometimes these shapes are seen as independent/isolated shapes (not enclosures). For example: 越 koeru, 代 kawaru, 戦 ikusa, 残 nokoru.
The spears in the kanji above are not enclosing anything. They simply exist as normal kanji components.